id	author	title	date	pages	extension	mime	words	sentences	flesch	summary	cache	txt
cord-259073-dixskemz	Ward, Christine F.	Altered Mental Status as a Novel Initial Clinical Presentation for COVID-19 Infection in the Elderly	2020-05-15		.txt	text/plain	2126	124	47	The elderly are the most vulnerable to significant adverse complications from COVID 19 and AMS should be considered as a possible sign of infection to initiate treatment early in the course of the disease, perhaps before respiratory symptoms are apparent. In this report, we present four patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who initially presented with altered mental status without fever or cough or respiratory distress. Each of the four patients developed AMS without fever or respiratory symptoms and were transferred to the local emergency department and were tested for the COVID-19 virus as part of their medical work up. Recognizing the COVID-19 infection early is especially important in the frail elderly, particularly for individuals in communal living facilities where isolating these patients can help limit the spread of the virus, There is evidence from previous viral epidemics of associated neuropsychiatric symptoms.	./cache/cord-259073-dixskemz.txt	./txt/cord-259073-dixskemz.txt